Scientists say they've created a detailed map of Sumatran tiger distribution that shows the island hosts the second-largest population of the big cats on Earth.
Indonesian researchers conducting a questionnaire-based survey across the island to identify the status of Sumatran tiger distribution found that tigers still occupy a large majority of the remaining available habitat in Sumatra, a release by scientific publisher Wiley-Blackwell said Monday.
Researchers Hariyo T. Wibisono and Wulan Pusparini found that of the 55,660 square miles of remaining potential habitat, tigers are present in more than 97 percent of it.
"These findings imply that Sumatran tiger population might be much larger than we believed, and could potentially be the second-largest tiger population in the world after India," Wibisono said.
However, they say, only 29 percent of the habitat found to contain tigers is protected.
Tigers occupy a great diversity of ecosystems, the survey found, from sea level in coastal lowland forests to 10,500 feet above sea level in high mountain forests and in every eco-region in between.
"There is a need for further scientific population assessment," Wibisono said, "but if the population is indeed as large as this new survey suggests then real actions and more support from tiger experts and the international community should be mobilized in the conservation of Sumatran tigers."
Share This Article With Planet Earth
